“The TAGS study has shown in a randomized phase three setting that trifluridine-tipiracil is an available option for treating patients with gastric or gastro-esoophageal cancer in the metastatic refractory setting,” said lead author Josep Tabernero MD PhD, Chair of Medical Oncology at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain in this edition of the Audio Journal of Oncology.

Patients lived a median of 5.7 months when treated with the new combination compared with 3.6 months in the control group receiving best supportive care—a 2.1 months extension of life and a 31 per cent reduction in the risk of death (hazard ratio: 0.69).

Professor David Cunningham MD FRCP, Consultant Medical Oncologist and Director of Clinical Research at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London adds his comments about the role of this combination in gastric cancer in the clinic.